SDHIll1980

No shock there...it should be a precursor to what's to come after this season.

The Reds just pulled a similar "about-face", as they're returning back to what's now FanDuel Sports Network Ohio at least for 2025. Included in this arrangement, FanDuel will offer DTC streaming for Reds telecasts, reflecting similar arrangements that they have with other MLB teams on their team roster. https://www.wcpo.com/sports/baseball/reds/cincinnati-reds-partners-with-fanduel-sports-network-for-2025-broadcast-rights

I agree. I just got out of a hospital stay on Veteran's Day weekend because of a bronchitis issue that greatly affect my breathing. I won't get into particulars as to why, but I've had some shortness of breath issues on and off since birth, although I've managed to live a normal life thanks to treatments, medicine, and exercise. Even heading outdoors these few days, I wear a mask each time I'm out and about. Honestly, I really wish we can get some rain out here right now...it's usually this time of year that L.A. gets its share of wet weather, and surely any day soon, it'll come. Sure as hell would be of some use for these firefighters.

As of 3:30pm PT, KABC is back on the air with their over-the-air signal, currently airing World News Tonight as per usual in the timeslot. On a personal note, I'm bit sad because the Palisades fire got parts of my old high school, but the original structures are in-tact. I haven't visited the campus since 2009 (I graduated there in 1998), but it still hurts nonetheless with not only some of the campus gone, but as well as all of the homes in the area that were burned. We had dozens of wildfires throughout Southern California for as long as I can remember, but this is the most catastrophic event I can remember since the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and we're coming up on the 31st anniversary of that next week. Enjoy though I live in Los Angeles city proper, the fires are at least 15-20 miles or so away from where I currently live, but the air quality all around is terrible...I can smell the smoke in the air, even with the distance away from the fires. My heart and condolences goes out to those lost homes, and in some cases, lost lives due to these fires.

I posted this in the sports-zone section on the Discord, but I'll place it here as well. Noushin Faraji, a former hair stylist who worked on Fox Sports 1's Los Angeles-based studio shows, is suing Fox Sports (including Fox Corporation as a whole), Skip Bayless, FS1 head of content Charlie Dixon, and Joy Taylor over sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. The sexual harassment deals with Bayless and Dixon in separate incidents; reportedly Bayless offered Faraji $1.5 million to sleep with him, and like several times before, she turned down his advances including the cash offer. As it pertains to Dixon, Faraji accused him of grabbing her buttocks at a party back in 2017, and when she told Taylor of what happened, Taylor told Faraji to "get over it". Faraji mainly did hair work on the since-canceled Undisputed up until last year, before its cancellation and eventual firing of Bayless, and also on Colin Cowherd's show as well. Cowherd, as well as Shannon Sharpe and Emmanuel Acho, were also mention in the deposition, but are not defendants in the lawsuit. Where Taylor is involved is the hostile work environment part, and in the deposition, it's insinuated that Taylor slept around with certain men within the Fox Sports confines, including head of content Dixon, as well as Acho. Taylor and Faraji did have a good professional relationship before the incident with Dixon, but it wasn't 2021 that their relationship eventually deteriorated, and by summer 2023, Faraji was no longer styling Taylor's hair. Faraji accuses Taylor of making fun of her accent (Faraji is of Persian descent), and being hostile towards her. Story from Sports Business Journal: https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2025/01/06/fox-sports-lawsuit Deposition: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25477137-faraji-v-fox/

Regarding the Netflix NFL Christmas Day games...as I mentioned a couple months ago, KCTV is simulcasting the Steelers-Chiefs game in the Kansas City area, and it's confirmed that KDKA will air the game in Pittsburgh. As for Ravens-Texans, KHOU will air the game in Houston, and WJZ will carry it in Baltimore. All four CBS stations in those respective cities will air these games, as confirmed per TitanTV listings; during the time when these games, CBS nationally is pretty much sticking with regularly-scheduled programming, both network and syndicated.

We had SportsChannel here in Los Angeles back in the late '80/early '90s before their parent company (Rainbow Media) shut it down at the end of 1992, and they had the cable rights to the Angels and Dodgers (and the Clippers as well). The Los Angeles version was the former Z Channel, and it inherited the broadcast contracts of the three aforementioned teams prior to the changeover. The Angels went to what's now FanDuel Sports Network West in 1992, while the Clips and Dodgers help launch what's now FanDuel Sports Network SoCal in early 1997. A part of SportsChannel L.A.'s issue was that it was competing with the original Prime Ticket network, which was on basic cable, and was available on more systems throughout the L.A. DMA; it wasn't until SCLA's final seven months on the air that converted to a basic cable channel, although some events were kept on a pay-per-view basis. It wasn't until the mid-2000s that both local MLB teams started beefing-up their local TV packages, where virtually every game were now being shown between over-the-air and regional cable. I do remember reading the then-Indians broadcast situation when they left WUAB, and went all-in with Fox Sports Ohio...Larry Dolan's brother's company (Rainbow) were still part owners of the Fox Sports/SportsChannel RSN collective at the time, and when Rainbow sold the SportsChannel networks to Fox, that's when the Cleveland Dolans went ahead to create SportsTime Ohio. Perhaps the best example of "keeping things in the family" lol.

I think all of these teams that are now aligned with MLB Local should offer a small package of games to any over-the-air outlet that's interested, even if they're simulcasts. That way, you could entice other fans who may be hesitant to buy the full season of games to do so, and especially for those who no longer have cable and/or satellite service. Hell, take it back old-school, where some teams (before the growth of independent TV stations and cable TV) were only offering probably no more than 30 games on TV each season. Of course, a lot of that had to do with certain owners thinking locally-televised games would affect game attendance, while other owners (mostly with the Chicago and NYC teams, and later Boston and the Braves) using TV as a means to advertise and entice fans to come see games in person. Certainly in Cincinnati, where Rock Entertainment Sports Network is available via WXIX, if the Guardians were to ever align with them, they would have to put alternate programming on in place because of territorial exclusivity. Why not put Reds games on in place, especially on days/nights where the Guardians would schedule a game on RESN. Gray does have stations within the Reds' broadcast footprint, including in some of the places where their Braves package will be available.

For those of you that still care and are interested in such things, on this day thirty years ago, the Big Network Switch of the mid-90s came to Milwaukee. Channels 6 (WITI), 24 (WCGV), and 58 (WDJT) were affected, as Fox moved to 6 from 24, 24 spends a month as an independent (again) before joining UPN at its launch, and 58 goes from an also-ran independent to the sixth station in the market (fifth as a fulltime affiliate) to air CBS programming. Even though WDJT was already airing certain CBS programs that WITI was preempting at the time, the affiliation agreement between 58 and CBS came practically at the last minute, days before WITI was to switch to Fox. WDJT's tenure with CBS has been long and by far the longest relationship the network has had with any station in Milwaukee television history; WITI's thirty-year relationship with Fox is their longest relationship with any network in their 68-year history. Channel 6 spent most of its first three years as an independent before starting its first of two stints with CBS in 1959, then swapped with WISN-TV to carry ABC programming in 1961, and then returned to CBS in 1977. With those two stints, WITI spent a combined 19 years with the Eye.

NBA TV rebooted Inside Stuff back about a decade ago with Grant Hill and Kristen Ledlow...it wasn't nowhere near as entertaining as the original. The viral video/YouTube age pretty much made it obsolete as a viable series.

Good question...I haven't seen anything recent from his socials, other than birthday wishes to him back in late September. Maybe right now he's just focusing more on his voiceover work.

Last month, the Cincinnati Reds parted ways with the Diamond Sports Group, and subsequently sold their equity stake in the former Bally Sports Ohio (for $1, no less). However, today they've made it official that they'll also be another team aligning with MLB Local... https://www.mlb.com/reds/news/reds-broadcasts-distributed-by-mlb-2025 It looks like by the end of the NBA and NHL season, FanDuel's Ohio networks are done for good. The Cavaliers have the Rock Entertainment & Sports Network as their contingency plan, just as soon as their contract with Diamond expires, but who knows with the Blue Jackets.

Other examples on the opposite end of the spectrum are places such as Phoenix, Denver, Alburquerque, Salt Lake City, and to certain extent Los Angeles. All geographically large DMAs that extend beyond each city's core metro area.

I've always figured that WBNX was going to be someone's duopoly partner in Northeast Ohio, it was just a matter of time.

If Tegna can get their hands on the Rangers, it'll be a big coup for them. Unlike the Mavs, the Rangers can air statewide, including Houston and also into Oklahoma and Louisiana. Both teams are also working on developing a streaming app, maybe this could give them the opportunity to create one together possibly with Tegna's help.

Netflix named its announcing teams for their Christmas Day games... Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson will team up once again, this time with J.J. Watt joining them, for Steelers vs. Chiefs in Kansas City. Kickoff time is scheduled for 1pm ET. Noah's dad Ian will call Ravens vs. Texans from Houston, with Greg Olsen as his partner. Game time from the Space City is at 4:30pm ET. Production for both telecasts will be handled by CBS Sports. Rich Eisen and some yet-to-be-determine studio analysts on loan from NFL Network will handle the studio show coverage. Because these are streaming-based broadcasts, Steelers-Chiefs and Ravens-Texans will also be seen on over-the-air TV in each team's home DMA. KCTV in Kansas City confirmed that they're airing the Steelers-Chiefs game in its region, and more than likely because it's a CBS O&O, KDKA in Pittsburgh should air the game in its home market. Assume the same in Baltimore with WJZ airing Ravens-Texans, and in Houston on KHOU.

The rest of them have all made the changeover as well. I like the more-modernized look they all have...the O&O web sites had look stale (but functional) for at least a decade.

ESPN is reporting today that the Guardians, Brewers, and Twins will have their telecasts produced by Major League Baseball's local division starting next season. They'll join the Padres, Diamondbacks, and Rockies as teams that will have their local telecasts handled by MLB. More to @tyrannical bastard's point, this likely spells the end of Bally Sports Great Lakes.

They would have come up with alternate programming in Indianapolis and Milwaukee during Bulls (both markets) and White Sox (Milwaukee) telecasts. Those pesky territorial rights.

Never mind, DENDude beat me to it...

I was thinking about this, in regards to KCAL+, but to me in my opinion, it should have been KTLA that created a new locally-programmed subchannel instead. They're sitting on syndicated programming that's either relegated to late nights (thanks to the increasing news expansion) or no longer seen locally (Steve Wilkos and Kamano) that could fill a daytime/early evening schedule. Hell, they could even poach a few classic shows from Antenna and Rewind to fill-in some other parts of the schedule (and grab Young Sheldon from KNBC's Cozi TV channel), and air encores of their locally-produced shows--Frank Buckley Interviews, L.A. Unscripted, Jessica Holmes Cooking, and Off the Clock. It'll certainly be a better lineup of shows that what KCAL+ is currently showing, at least to me.

I would have thought that the Blazers would have gone with Gray as well, but probably the financials didn't add up to make it viable for both parties. Beyond Gray and Sinclair, the other options in Portland were rather limited, between Tegna (KGW), Nexstar (KOIN/KRCW), and even Ion/Scripps. Through all of the different TV partners they've had over the years, the Blazers have always handled their on-air production in-house, so it shouldn't have any remnants of Bally Sports graphics or production styles in their telecasts. Although I'm not a fan of this team, I've checked out the reactions of Blazers fans on Reddit and a couple of their team blogs...there are quite a few that aren't happy with the Sinclair association. Never mind that Sinclair is only providing the outlets to air games, while the team is handling the broadcast infrastructure internally.

For the third straight season, KTLA will carry a limited number of Clippers games--four preseason, and eleven regular-season contests.

As is KTXH. Although their current branding is a throwback to the late '80s, it's still unique amongst Fox's MyNetworkTV stations. Fox 26 Plus/Xtra...maybe in the future?

The Portland Trail Blazers now have a new broadcast partner: KATU and Sinclair https://www.nba.com/blazers/news/portland-trail-blazers-announce-future-of-trail-blazers-broadcasting A multi-year deal that includes distribution on Sinclair stations throughout Oregon and Washington, mainly on subchannels including in Portland on KATU 2.2 (Charge!) until January 1, 2025, when Blazers telecasts move to KUNP Channel 16 (currently Univision); in Seattle, the games will air on KUNS 51.2 (TBD Network). Also as part of the agreement, the Blazers are creating a paid direct-to-consumer streaming service (BlazerVision) that will have live and classic games, pre and postgame content, and other team-oriented programming.